Otherworldly Love
by The Lady of Gaia
Summary: Izumi thought she was a normal woman. That was before her boyfriend cheated on her. That was before someone pushed her down a staircase with the intent to kill her. That was before she found herself in another world with a man demanding she marry him. Izumi doesn't think she's normal anymore.
1. Chapter 1

The clouds were heavy with rain as she walked from her car to her apartment. She walked slowly since she wasn't ready for what she knew she would find. She had no idea how long it had been going on…only that it had been going on.

It started when she noticed this or that had been moved. Then she could some lipstick that wasn't hers. She asked her boyfriend about it; his answer had been it was for her birthday.

It was a lie.

She opened the doors and walked to the elevator as she wondered why. Though, at the end of the day she found…that she didn't care. She had tried to love him and even let him move in. She knew that he loved her yet her feelings felt locked away. They were behind a door that he couldn't unlock.

Hitoshi wasn't the first that she had gotten with. feelings. She had dated countless guys and found that she felt nothing but friendship for all of them.

Izumi fingered the gem hidden under her shirt. Only _he_ could probably unlock those feelings. Just like that gem on the necklace had become a constant comfort in life.

The boy wasn't real.

She knew that _he_ was nothing but a dream she had once. It didn't stop the emotions that she felt. Or how she compared every man she dated to _him_.

She compared them to a dream. She compared them constantly to something that had never been real.

A dream of a boy that had never been real, a life that had never been real. It was pathetic and ridiculous, something that she should do. It didn't stop her from doing it though.

It was like some part of her wanted the dream to be real. For him to be real. It only served to make all the other men in her life fall short to a boy. "I need help."

She walked down the hall when the elevator doors opened. The carpet beneath her shoes was worn and old, something that had been there before her time. The walls were a sunny yellow like the world was a happy place despite the old carpet. Normally her eyes looked for little details in the walls or the doors.

It felt so stupid as she walked to her apartment. As she walked to what she knew she would find inside.

206 appeared before her. Her apartment door stood there in her way. It almost felt like it was urging her to walk away…to come back later. That wasn't an option.

Hitoshi deserved more and so did she.

She pulled her key out and unlocked the door. She didn't take her shoes off as the noise of bodies fucking filled the air. Izumi followed it to the bedroom where she watched them.

The woman's eyes were closed as if she was too absorbed in what they were doing together. Her lips melted into Hitoshi's with a passion that Izumi had never felt for him. Every move, every touch was filled with affection and passion for him.

He looked just as absorbed like she was his whole world at that moment.

Was that sex? She didn't know. What she did know was that she watched their hips meshed against each other. To see him pull out and back into her.

It suddenly felt so wrong to be watching them. So she asked politely, "are you almost done yet?"

They instantly parted like the waves of the beach. There was a pain in Hitoshi's eyes as he grabbed to cover himself. The woman that he had been inside made no move to do the same.

She laid there proudly in Izumi's bed with her body on display and her legs wide open.

It felt like a challenge. But Izumi had no interest in winning the challenge offered. She didn't really want the prize in the end.

"Izumi…you're home early," Hitoshi muttered. He glanced at the woman in their bed before he tried to cover her with the blanket.

She just gave him a gentle smile. "Yes, well…I thought it would be better to come home when your new girlfriend was still here."

"She's not my girlfriend!" He denied strongly. "You are!"

"WHAT?" the woman hissed as she sat up finally. "YOU TOLD ME THAT YOU COULDN'T LEAVE YET BECAUSE SHE WAS ONE OF THOSE CRAZY PSYCHO BITCHES THAT WOULDN'T LET YOU GO!"

"Either way, I don't think its best that you don't stay here anymore, Hitoshi." Izumi interrupted suddenly. She could see that Hitoshi planned to argue the issue but she just wanted them gone. The hurt that she saw in Hitoshi's eyes didn't sit well with her.

"Izumi…"

"I have been thinking for a long time that this isn't working out. I just didn't want to lose you as a friend." It was true, she saw him only as a friend. She had hoped that friendship would become more just like she had hoped with the others. Nothing came from it though. Nothing besides hurt feelings.

"You can't mean that Izumi…I'm in love with you," he muttered. The woman gasped in outrage of his words before she slapped him hard.

It looked like Hitoshi hadn't felt it though as he just turned his eyes back to Izumi.

She just watched the woman, who got dressed and pushed past her. Izumi didn't take it personally, the woman had lost what she saw as a relationship. She knew better despite her failed relationships.

Nothing else was said until the front door slammed shut. A sigh passed her lips then. "I'm not in love with you, Hitoshi. I never was and that was wrong of me."

"So that's it then? You never loved me when you knew that I have loved you for so long. I'm sorry that I had a moment of weakness," he whispered as he stared at her.

He looked like he was ready to crawl to her. They had never had sex yet he looked willing to crawl to her. She never loved him beyond friendship…it was too much for her. What did she do to deserve that kind of emotion?

"Please stop," she said softly as she turned away from him.

She felt sick. He was a wonderful and sweet man that she had dated for two years. She lived with him for three; she knew that she would never fall in love with him.

Still, she did this to him. She had somehow turned him into a lovesick fool that wanted her more than his dignity. What did that say about her? He hadn't been the first to turn out like this. But he was her best friend.

She should have never let him ask her out.

"Izumi?" He called, bringing her back to that moment.

The moment where she was breaking up with him. She turned back around to look at him only to find him in front of her. As naked as he had been in the bed when she interrupted him. He was still aroused somehow and she nothing at the sight of it. "Yes?"

"Do you really feel nothing for me right now?"

"I just never have…for anyone. I want to feel something for you beyond our friendship, I tried for so long." Not just with him either. She had tried to feel something for every man she had ever dated. They all failed to arouse anything. It was like her body and mind rejected them even when she didn't want to reject them.

"Why can't you feel something for me?" He questioned her. "Maybe I can help you feel something if you help me to understand this."

"You wouldn't understand. I don't understand beyond the fact that I'm in love with a dream." A dream that had never been real beyond the necklace around her neck.

"A dream?" he muttered as if he didn't understand.

She wouldn't blame him if he never understood. She barely did. It was only the faded memory of that boy that called to her. He was a child in the dream just like her, a normal boy dressed in skins.

His ruby eyes always on her mind. At times it almost felt as if they watched her. How she watched that was true. "Yes, I'm in love with a dream."

"I don't understand."

"I know…I barely do," she told him. "I dreamed of him once as a kid. It only took that once though, I have been his since."

"He is a dream though, you're flesh and blood, Izumi. You must see how ridiculous that is?" He asked her.

Yet as she stared at him, Izumi saw that he couldn't take anymore. The same was for her; she could take any more of this relationship or the lies. She turned away from him then. She walked out of the apartment and down the hallway.

He called after her, there was no point in answering though. She could think of what else to say. She was at her limit for everything.

She stood before the elevator but it was too slow for her to stand it. She went to the stairs as her mind churned with what she had done. Nothing felt right because she knew that she was the problem.

Her and **_Kacchan_** were the problem. They were a problem with no clear answer to be had.

She had talked with therapists and doctors about it for years. It was a mental illness called **_Erotomania_**. Others suffered from it, seemed resistant to treatment where Izumi welcomed it.

She wanted to love. To have a rich relationship with another, to build a family one day with someone she loved. She wanted love to grow old with. Her emotions had become chains that held her trapped from that. They wrapped around her, bound her until she closed her eyes.

Then she was with him, her dream. For years, he had grown with her then she suddenly found him as a man. The boy was gone just like the little girl in her.

But still, he wasn't real.

With a sigh, she stood before the staircase and wondered what was next. There was no ready answer so she just took a step down when she felt the hands.

The ground was gone in the next moment as the world spun around her. She saw only a feminine figure before she hit a step that whispered of terror. She knew what was going to happen, braced herself. Yet she couldn't stop it. Pain hit her at angles again and again, to the point that everything had gone black.

OoOo

The air smelled sweet as her senses slowly returned to her. The ground was soft, unlike the hurt concrete that she had expected. The sound of fighting and metal sounded in the distance. When she opened her eyes, she found herself surrounded in a forest of red.

The beautiful crimson trees and the almost pink grass was all something that she had seen before. It was from her dream of Kacchan, this was his home.

"I'm dreaming," she muttered as she stared at the world around her. "I'm either dead and this is my heaven because of Kacchan or I'm in a coma and I'm dreaming of Kacchan."

She just continued to lie there. She was at an utter loss of what had happened.

She knew that someone had pushed her down those stairs. She knew that this wasn't reality, it couldn't be. But a part of her hoped it was because he was there in that reality.

"So what are you going to do, Izumi? Are you going to seek him out or wait here?" she asked herself.

_**"How about I fuck you to death instead?" **_

Izumi jerked up at the sudden voice to see an unnatural creature slowly walk towards her. It looked like a blend of lobster, man and praying mantis that created an ugly mess. Her stomach wanted to empty itself at the sight of it.

She slapped a hand over her mouth when her stomach tried.

Its eyes watched her like she was a tasty treat. It was reason enough for her to find her footing and run. It shouted after her in an almost singsong voice. **_"You can't get away! We'll still eat you at the end of the day."_**

The brushes hit her here and there as she ran. Fear held her, blinded her as she ran away. This wasn't the dream she wanted but was a nightmare. There was no Kacchan and she was going to be fucked to death before being eaten. This was not what she had planned this morning when she got up.

She was meant to break up with Hitoshi, hopefully, keep him as a friend. She meant to move on with her life. Look for the man that would cure her of her Erotomania.

Instead, she was probably dying in the real world as she ran away in her mind to avoid a monster.

The day was officially shitty.


	2. Chapter 2

"Fuck off," Katsuki growled as his mother placed his food before him. His temper flared like the fires in the pit they sat around. His mother gave him a glare as she moved to get more. He knew that she was telling him in her own way to calm down. He knew that he needed to be calm too; Saso just never knew when to stop.

He was like a bug that continued to try and bite you. It never stopped til it was full of blood.

She turned to help the other women continue to set out the meal. Katsuki barely noticed as he turned his eyes to Saso once more.

The man was always pushing his luck. Had done so for years before he was even born.

"Katsuki, you must understand that a man shouldn't remain unmarried like you have all these years." The greasy smile on Saso's face as he said that only added kindling. "Izumi has been gone for years. You have done well in waiting for her but the chief of the tribe must have a bride."

"Where is the rule that tells us that, Saso? The scrolls of the elders say nothing of the sort, the other elders say nothing about the matter. She wears my bridal necklace even now," Katsuki said calmly.

He knew that no one believed him but he could feel it. He could feel the metal against her skin, keeping it warm with her touch. The memory of the day he had given it to her was still there in his mind. It was as clear as if it had only happened moments ago.

"They fear you, Katsuki. They fear your anger in this matter like all others."

He glanced around then, the people were quiet as they listened to the conversation. They listened and hung on every word that passed between the men.

Saso like the coward that he was, made sure of it by sitting across from him. All the way on the other side of the pits. It was a tactic to made sure that he couldn't grab him, to make him whisper the conversation.

Everyone knew that Katsuki would not be moved from his choice of bride.

He had made it as a child and still never regretted it. Not even after all the years spent apart. He saw her every night in his dreams, more beautiful to him than the last. He knew her as well as he knew himself from those dreams.

The people did, his tribe didn't know her like he did. They knew the child that he had fallen in love with. They knew she was special, a rare treasure that was prized to their kind.

But she wasn't worth it in the end if he never bred children for their people.

He returned his ruby gaze to Saso. The greasy smile had only become wider as Katsuki truly realized what the man was trying to do. It disgusted him to see it grow alongside the man's plans. "She wears my bridal necklace."

"You can be given another," Saso muttered reluctantly.

Gasps and outraged shouts filled the air in that moment. Katsuki remained calm as Saso tried to calm their people. They were right to be enraged though. The man had insulted one of their most sacred traditions after all.

A man was only ever given one bridal necklace as a child by the elders. When he found the one that he was meant to be with, he would give her the necklace in their betrothal. They would live together for a few years to see if they were truly meant for one another. After that time had passed and they remained together, he would take the necklace to reforge it before the wedding.

He would add to it, spending days, weeks if not months working on it. He would make it beautiful as it was reforged into an armguard. It would serve it's purpose in showing their shared love. It was insulting that Saso would dare to think that Katsuki would ever replace that necklace.

"ENOUGH! QUIET DOWN ALL OF YOU!" his mother Mitsuki roared with authority.

All at once, everyone fell silent like they had never been shouting or enraged to begin with. It was rather terrifying to see his mother show her power like that. It only served to remind him to never get on her bad side.

He watch as his mother turned to glare at Saso then. Everything about her spoke of the anger she had simmering within her like a pot over the fires. It was ready to boil over at any moment if Saso continued.

His mother was kind enough to give a warning. "No more talk of replacing his bridal necklace, Saso. If you do it again then I'll have a talk with my husband and the other elders about you."

With a nod, Saso agreed and his mother returned to her work. Still the man did not quit the matter as Katsuki would have liked him to.

"You should still take a bride."

"It would be cruel to do so," Katsuki growled. "I would never love her. I would always love our children but be saddened by the sight of them. I would always want my bride to be another and for my children to have another mother."

Katsuki stood then to gain the attention of all for his next words. "I would always want Izumi and would only ever love her."

Everyone stared at him, their eyes burning him as they took in his words. The men knew what he spoke of and the women whispered of his devotion.

"The tribe deserves a new tribal mother, Katsuki-AAARRGH." A woman had dumped a hot platter of food right into Saso's lap.

It was then that Katsuki felt his mother's familiar hand smack him in the back of the head hard. He turned to glare at her but stopped when she towered over him with rage aflame in her eyes.

He desperately wanted to run away in that moment but continued to stand there. If he gave into the fear then his mother would pounce upon him. He had the traumas and scars that reminded him of that fact.

When Mitsuki turned that glare at Saso, Katsuki found that he had been holding his breath.

Saso simply sat there dumbfounded by the food in his lap. He did that until Mitsuki roared. "THAT IS ENOUGH. THIS IS THE HOME HEARTH AND I WON'T ALLOW YOU TWO MORONS TO CONTINUE THIS HERE. SO EAT YOUR DAMN FOOD ALREADY!"

Katsuki immediately sat and grabbed at the food with the intent of obeying his mother. Any other time he would argue yet his fear of her made him obey.

Saso simply stared at Mitsuki though. Mitsuki glared back in kind before informing Saso, "You get nothing but what's in your lap."

Saso growled then at her and it was instant. All the men stood before Mitsuki. A barrier to the threat of the tribal mother. Katsuki snarled at Saso like an enraged beast.

"You dare?" He snarled as he reach out to wrap his hands around Saso's neck. "YOU DARE TO THREAT MY MOTHER? YOU DARE TO GROWL AT HER? SHE IS THE TRIBAL MOTHER AND IS ABOVE YOU!"

He slammed Saso into the worn carpet beneath them. Saso's face and hair dirtied by the spilled food. He saw red at the older man's actions, wanted to kill him in that moment for the insult. Katsuki would have done it if it was for the smack to the back of his head.

"Let him go now," she ordered.

Katsuki snarled one last time before he obeyed.

Still he turned to stand before his mother, intent upon guarding her like the others. The rage that she had displayed before was suddenly gone. The flaming rage in his mother's eyes were instead replaced with a cold burn.

Katsuki knew that she would burn Saso alive in that moment. "What am I, Saso?"

"What?" Saso asked, clearly confused by the sudden change as he sat up.

"What am I, Saso?" she repeated, her ruby eyes piercing him as he sat there.

"…the tribal mother?"

She stepped out of the barrier then to walk towards Saso. She stood before him and stared. "Yes, I am the tribal mother."

She put her foot between his legs as she continued to stare. Saso groaned in pain as she spoke. "I am the tribal mother. I am mother and caretaker of all those within our tribe and you have insulted me, Saso. By our laws, I can have you whipped by the chief…my son. He would happily do it as well."

"Mercy," Saso begged as he grabbed at Mitsuki's foot.

"Do not disrespect me again, Saso. I am the tribal mother and I will discipline you as if you were my own child." The pressure seemed to increase for Saso begged for mercy like a child. Katsuki smiled at the terrifying smile his mother gave the older man. "I'm far harder on him than any of the others."

With that, she lifted her foot and went to sit next to where Katsuki had. Without a word passing between them, everyone sat down and began to eat.

Katsuki went back to his seat and stared at Saso though, never touching the food. At least not until his mother grabbed his nose to force his mouth open. Before he could even say anything, she pushed food into his open maw.

Stuff to the point that he almost couldn't close his mouth, he struggled to swallow it all.

It was then that she scolded him. "You shouldn't respond to him. He's an elder but so is your father and you are the chief of our tribe, it is beneath you."

Finally swallowing it all, he chided her in return. "He wants power, Hag. He wanted you so he could be the chief and that never happened. Now he isn't happy that his son is my best friend, he wants me to marry his daughter."

"You're the chief, brat…people feel uneasy when the chief doesn't have an heir," Mitsuki told him. There was a sadness in her expression as she said that.

Katsuki knew that his grandparents had only ever had the one child like his parents. Some thought it meant that the Forest's blessing was leaving their bloodline. Others thought it was because of the outsider blood of his great grandparents' time. Many feared what it would mean when Izumi returned to him.

"I'll just have to have lots of kids with Izumi then," he muttered. He still refused to think of being with anyone else.

Love filled him when he thought of his people. Yet the thought of being with another that wasn't Izumi was impossible. The thought alone had made him sick; the one time he had tried to be with another…he had puked.

His body and mind were one in the decision to wait. They wanted her and were happy to wait for her as long as he needed to.

"Will you at least think about being with another woman? No one would look down on you for having a child with an unmarried."

"It's impossible," he told her.

Anger brightened his mother's eyes in that moment. She grabbed him by the hair and forced him to meet her glare. Yet he stared at her with a calm expression, a rare thing on her child. It felt like hours passed by them when only a few silent moments did.

"I get sick at the thought of touching anyone but her. She has been my dream since that first day, mom." He could see the surprise in her eyes when he called her mom. He only ever did when it was serious. "I love her like dad loves you. I refuse to be with another when I know that I love Izumi alone."

"Katsuki, love can grow-"

"Over time? But it's almost twenty-one years. Yet every night, I dream of Izumi alone," he whispered as he cut in. Her tight hold on his hair softened then. "The one time I tried with another, I couldn't get it up without thinking of Izumi. I thought of that woman as Izumi through it all; when I tried to enter her…I puked all over her."

There was pain in his mother's eyes at his words.

Mitsuki showed him all the pain that his words had been filled with. She understood that to be with another was truly impossible for him. A tear came for the pain that her son had suffered. "We'll find her, brat."

She moved to give him a hug when the warning went out.

The warning was a beautiful song played by an ocarina.

The wind carried the sound to them so that they would hear every hauntingly beautiful note. It was never said as they listened, knowing that one of their own risked themself for the good of all. It was simply understood and respected as they mourn their loss.

When the song suddenly died, everyone jumped.

Katsuki and the men left the Hearth fire without another thought beyond getting their spears. He knew that his mother would see the other women and children to safety.

With a spear in hand, they left their home for the forest that surrounded them. It had been their shield so long. The trees gave off a poison that killed those from the outside. A poison that they were immune to and used to their full advantage.

The immunity that coursed through their veins flowed within their enemy as well. Still, they were ready to defend their people to the death.

Ps: liked the story? there's more on my blog for my readers to enjoy. I hope to see you there and that you'll comment when you come.


	3. Chapter 3

Pain cut at her with each step she took. Her lungs burned and her arms throbbed with the little scratches that covered them. Her body slowed for just a moment, begging for a break.

The sound of the monster following behind pushed her on. The fear pushed her like a master that whipped his horse to run.

"_**You can't get away from me,"**_ it hissed. It's stomping steps continued to follow, never stopping for a moment.

She glanced behind her, it had only gotten closer. The monster was jogging at most, it taunted her with it's slow pace. It meant to heighten her fear before killing her. How she wished that she could escape it with thought alone.

She knew that this was all a dream, something that her mind made up. That everything she felt was simply a fantasy that her mind made to cope. Yet the monster that followed her made no sense. It was the stuff of nightmares…just not hers.

Pain overwhelmed her as her vision darkened for a moment. Her lungs screamed for air and burned her in rage of the lack. She tripped as it all overwhelmed her.

Izumi turned to look at the monster that quickened it's pace towards her. She knew in that moment that if she didn't do something fast then she would be killed.

How she wished that Kacchan was there.

She closed her eyes as she tried to stand again. Her legs protested against it as she forced herself.

Suddenly a deafening roar surrounded her. She opened her eyes and found herself overwhelmed by everything in front of her. The monster that wanted to kill her, rape her and devour her was nowhere to be seen.

That did not make her surroundings any better.

Izumi wondered why she stood in a battle with monsters and savages. She stared at the men that surrounded her. Her mind whispered of long buried memories she tried not to think of.

This was Kacchan's tribe.

Red tattoos, gold jewelry and the same woven clothes as she remembered. Tears ran as she thought of Kacchan and if he were in that very battle. What did it all mean? Was she just tormenting herself? she feared that to be the case.

She had always hated violence ever since childhood. Still she found herself in a battle.

Was her subconscious trying to tell her something? Or was this all because of the battle she faced with her illness?

"What is this?" She whispered to herself. "Why is this happening?"

No one answered her but then no one was meant to. Everyone just kept fighting. Killing their enemy as she stood in the center of it all. A spectator of death and violence. How she wanted to escape it.

She felt so overwhelmed by everything. From the moment she had entered her apartment, it felt as if nothing had gone as planned.

"This all needs to stop," she muttered to herself. She screamed at the top of her lungs to stop them.

They didn't bat an eye at her, never seemed to even see nor hear her.

So she moved to grab a man, only to be pushed away. Her balance was lost from the action and she tripped backwards over a dead man's body. She stared in shock with her legs still on him.

The world went silent despite the battle still raging on. Her heart stopped in her chest as well she stared at him.

It was how she knew that he was still alive. The feeling of his chest rising and falling told her all she needed to know. Without another thought, she went to aid him. The sight of his wounds were horrifying. Like acid had been painted upon his skin and deep cuts stabbed at him.

It was as inhuman as the monsters the men fought. How could her mind create such horror? It made her feel as though she were the monster rather then the ones the men fought.

She pushed the thought away and touched her hands to his neck. She needed to know how his pulse was before she could try to help him.

"A…a woman?" a weak voice whispered.

She looked at the man, his voice so weak and his eyes stared at nothing. She didn't think he could see her with the acid burns over them. "How did you know?"

"…h…h..hands."

"Keep calm, I'm going to help you as best as I can."

"…lea…leave…now…da…dan…danger-"

"Dangerous? I know but you're what's important right now, not me." She meant them. Even if this was just something that her mind had created, she had worked to become a nurse for a reason.

She would never stop working toward helping others in need.

The only question was…how could she help him? She had no supplies, the man was too weak to move under his own power. There was also the fact that a battle raged around them that added to the danger.

"L…le…leave…go…t…t…to tribe," he begged her. His hand twitched as he tried to lift it.

"Don't try to move! Or talk, you need all the strength you have," she told him calmly. She took her hands from his pulse to grab his hand, it was then that blood exploded from him.

She stared, unable to process what had just happened before her. Some kind of spiked tail was stabbed into the man's chest. She followed that tail to find it attached to a monster. It gave her a sadistic smile as the tail twisted in and out of the man's flesh.

She didn't even need to look at the man to know that he had passed. The fact that he had died before she even had a chance to save him did something to her. It had cut into the heart of who she was.

He hadn't been real. but his pain had been to her. It had filled Izumi with an ache that she didn't even have the chance to ease his pain. It had made his passing harder than it should have been. She would never forgive herself if this had been a real person.

This was just the beginning. A battle raged and she stood in the heart of it. It needed to stop; her subconscious could not win. If it did then all the pain around her would continue in an endless loop. She would take control to stop it all. This was her mind despite the fantasy.

"What the fuck was that for?" She hissed at it.

"_**To wake you up!"**_ it laughed at her.

She stared at it, not understanding what it was talking about. She was locked away in her mind; she wanted to wake up. "Then why are you doing all of this?"

"_**Because you love these people, you always have and he wants you to suffer for it."**_

Her heart stopped in her chest in that moment. Then rage and terror filled every cell in her body. Her eyes saw red as she stood up with the intent to harm the monster her mind had created. She stopped before she could do anything, the monster pulled it's tail from the man.

The sound filled her ears. it echoed in her ears over and over. "Why? Who wants me to suffer?"

The tail turned to her, slowly moving towards her until it was pointed at her throat. She looked at the monster to see it's sadistic smile was all the wider. "_**There's no fun in telling you everything."**_

She stared at him as she processed what he said to her. It was like it was all a game to this other person. Another person that shouldn't exist in her own mind.

This was a fantasy, she knew that. Her desire for Kacchan had created all of this. Her illness had poisoned her life and was now poisoning her subconscious. It needed to stop.

Everything needed to stop.

A spear slammed down on the tail as someone pushed her behind them. Though she had never seen the person in real life, everything just stopped. Izumi stared at his back as she processed the joy that filled her. It filled her so much that it overflowed into tears.

He was the light that she needed so badly in that moment.

"Kacchan? Please tell me…it's you?" Hope bloomed in her chest as she stared at him. The hope was the antidote that she needed for the poison that filled her.

He said nothing to her, never turned to her as he batted the tail away. Before she could say anything else to him, he raised an open hand to the monster's face. Her heart stopped again as she watched the smile on the monster's face became even bigger.

That smile seemed to only make the monster's head grow. Still, Kacchan did nothing-

"_**Woman," **_another monster suddenly hissed from her right.

"Die." An explosion suddenly burst from Kacchan's hand, destroying the monster's head. Izumi never had the chance to look at the other monster. Kacchan's spear whizzed past her head and she found herself looking at him.

The ruby eyes that she had dreams of countless times stared at her.

"Kacchan," she whispered as more tears spilled. Her happiness couldn't be contained at the sight of him.

Without another word, he took her into his arms. He held her tightly, almost like he was afraid to ever let her go again. That only served to make her cry all the more. How long had she wanted this?

To see him, to have him hold her and be with him again? She never wanted to wake up again if she could say with him.

It was then that her happiness turned to despair.

This was her illness talking. Her illness and her subconscious were her enemies, making the thing that she wanted appear. They meant to stop her from fighting for herself. How badly she wanted to let them win as she was held in his arms.

Chapter 4 is up on my Blog for those interested.


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